A blogger suite was arranged for us on Saturday, and we spent most of the day haunting various author panels and discussions, as well as visiting the exhibit floor. Here’s what the view looked like from high above in our suite:

Christina Gonzalez, Sharon Draper, T.R. Simon and Victoria Bond

We three bloggers decided on the divide and conquer strategy, and we each attended different panels. My first panel was called Growing Up Me: Unique Stories of Childhood, and it featured authors Sharon Draper (Out of My Mind, Copper Sun, The Sassy Series), T.R. Simon and Victoria Bond (Zora and Me) and Christina Diaz Gonzalez (The Red Umbrella). The panel discussed the subjective and direct messages in their books, the inspiration for their books, and the creative impetus behind each of their works. This panel was attended by several middle school readers, and I found the content informative and the authors warm and eager to connect with their readers.

Shellie Tomlinson, Susan Gregg Gilmore and Marybeth Whalen

The second panel I attended was titled Love, Life, and Laughter: Inspiring Women Writers, and it featured my old friends, Marybeth Whalen (The Mailbox), Susan Gregg Gilmore (The Improper Life of Bezilla Grove) and Shellie Rushing Tomlinson (Suck Your Stomach In and Put Some Color On!). Shellie spoke about the importance of laughter not only in her writing but in all of our everyday lives, and also a bit about her website, All Things Southern, which was new to me. Susan spoke of how the characters in her book really shouldered the burden and carried a load for her when the circumstances in her life spun out of control. Marybeth shared how her faith inspired her book, and how she created a work that focused on spiritual search. I have to say that this was an incredible panel, and because I knew just how special each of these women truly was, it only heightened my enjoyment of the discussion.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Susan Gregg Gilmore and Nina Revoyr

The third author panel I attended was called Conflicting Loyalties: Cross-Racial Relationships, and it featured Susan Gregg Gilmore (The Improper Life of Bezilla Grove), Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Wench) and Nina Revoyr (Wingshooters). This panel discussed various issues relating to race: from the cultural standpoint of what it was like to grow up as an immigrant of mixed race in the Midwest and the contradictions of racism (Nina Revoyr) to the political and social implications of the identity of those who are mixed race (Dolen Perkins-Valdez) to the class divide between African American servants and their white employers (Susan Gregg Gilmore). This was a panel that had the potential to become heated, but the authors kept things spirited without being offensive, and they were all able to make their points in a very tactful and informative way.

Lori Roy, Susan Hubbard and Eleanor Brown

The last panel of the day for me was titled Family Secrets, and it starred Eleanor Brown (The Weird Sisters), Lori Roy (Bent Road) and Susan Hubbard (The Season of Risks). The authors on this panel discussed the role that family secrets played in each of their books, and Susan Hubbard speculated on whether or not these secrets were best left undiscovered in her work. Eleanor Brown made a point about her book by saying that the secrets in her book needed to eventually be uncovered for the family to begin to work again. Susan Roy spoke about the damage that comes from the family secrets in her book and the destruction they cause. The authors also discussed their writing processes and rituals, their favorite villains, and the importance of plot and character and how they intertwine. This panel was probably the most light-hearted of the day, and I have to say that the three authors really worked well together. It was also a very funny and frank discussion, and I enjoyed it very much.

Jason, Jenny, Sandy, Liz, Heather, Me, Michelle, Ben

After all the festivities wrapped up and much shopping was done, I headed out to the local Macaroni Grill to meet up with a whole host of Central Florida bloggers. I got the wonderful opportunity to hang out with Sandy, Jenny, Michelle and Michelle’s husband, also a voracious reader! Some bloggers that weren’t able to make it for the festival were luckily able to meet us for dinner, and I got the chance to meet the very book savvy and sweet Heather from Book Addiction and the incredibly funny and tireless Liz, from Cleverly Inked. We all had such a great time at dinner, and talked about every bookish thing under the sun, from our reactions to Mockingjay to those little pesky Florida silverfish that will eat through a stack of books faster than you could imagine. This lead to a wider discussion of all thing creepy and crawly, and by the time we were done, we finished up with the wonder that is Joe Hill. All the girls were incredibly smart and funny women, and again it was a strange experience of meeting people for the first time whom it feels like you’ve known all your life. Sandy and I even convinced Heather to join our book club, so I’m confident we will be getting to know her much better in the future. All in all, the blogger dinner was a wonderful event that I wouldn’t have missed for the world.

The entire weekend was a total book-lover's dream, and I’m already looking forward to participating in next year’s event, as I’m sure the other blogger attendees are. I also wanted to give a warm and special thanks to Susan Wegmann, who, with her team, coordinated with all the bloggers who attended the event. We were made to feel very special and included in every aspect of the festival and I don’t think any of us could have had a more wonderful and enriching time. So, if you’re thinking about joining us next year, I strongly encourage you to come out for the 2012 Orlando Book Festival. A more top-notch literary event for Orlando could scarcely be imagined!

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comments:

What a fabulous opportunity, and it looks like you all had such a great time. Susan Gregg Gilmore is very sweet. It must be a blast to meet her in person. Of course I am most envious of the blogger dinner at the end. I love getting to meet everyone!

Wow, this is all from my friend who described herself as "shy" in her first email to me?!?! It sounds like a wonderful way to spend a weekend and I'm so proud to have such wonderful bloggers there to represent the rest of us!!

Oh what a fabulous time it sounds like you had! I'm so envious! Now I need to try to set something up with the Decatur Book Festival to see if they can do something like that for us bloggers this September! Love all the pictures too!

Wow! It looks like you had a fabulous time there! I wish there were more conventions like this near me, those panels looked very interesting. Not to mention meeting fellow bloggers face to face. Glad you had such a good time :)

I tweeted about it and now am going to spend some time checking out the bloggers you mentioned, as well as the commenters too! I love anything that involves books, food and nice people. This past weekend qualifies for all of the above. I've been telling people it was truly one of my fave events I've ever been too! So glad we got to see each other there and I just wish I'd seen you one last time to hug your neck goodbye!!

What a wonderful recap of the event!! I can't believe we attended 3 of the same panels...great minds and all that stuff. I was so happy to meet you, and was sad to see I was missing out on a Central Florida book blogging world, I hope to follow along now and hope you will visit my blog too, I'm not 100% books, but I do what I can. I need to get my post up about the Festival too!!

I am a little behind ( as usual!) This is a fantastic post! I am happy to see what a great time you all had at the book festival. It looks like a lot of fun with great books and interesting talks and lots of laughs. Thanks for including awesome photos with your post.

Oh, wow! I wish I;d gone. My mom lives in the area but I just didn't get my act together in time. It looks like you had a blast! I met Susan Gregg Gilmore a few years ago and she's truly awesome. Glad it was such a good time!

What a perfectly delightful post. THANK YOU for the kind words about our panel. Frankly, I could've asked Marybeth and Susan a TON of more questions and just listened to them. :)) I shall check out some of these other bloggers here! THANKS again. It was a pleasure meeting you.